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November 16, 2011

Torani's Authentic Coffehouse Flavor: So Many Great Options

I absolutely love coffee. Growing up in Seattle coffee was literally everywhere, and I remember having my first true coffee drink in a giant coffee mug (really more of a bowl with a handle) when I was about 12. When I was in college there were at least three coffee shops on every corner around University of Washington and the campus had coffee stands everywhere. Needless to say between the coffee and the turbo truffles I was able to work, dance, and pull off a double major in four years. When I moved to West Virginia I made sure that my beloved espresso maker made the trip nicely padded in my suitcase. I have had many care packages of coffee sent to me with my favorite Seattle coffee (nothing against Starbucks, but they have nothing on Vivace, so yummy!). I love very strong, rich coffee and have at least two cups a day. Therefore I was excited when SheSpeaks gave me the chance to try Torani Flavored Syrups, which I thought would add a nice touch to my morning coffee.

A bit of background on Torani:

Since 1925, family-owned Torani has been crafting great tasting flavored syrups that coffeehouses use to make their flavored drinks taste so delicious. With over 120 flavors in regular and sugar free varieties, Torani flavored syrups are perfect for flavored lattes, mochas, coffees, cocoas, Italian sodas, teas, lemonades, cocktails and smoothies. Coffeehouse professionals choose Torani flavors because they are expertly crafted and made with the highest quality ingredients, like natural flavors and pure cane sugar. The sugar free flavors have no calories and are sweetened with Splenda. Now, Torani Flavored Syrups are widely available at retail so you can easily create authentic coffeehouse quality drinks at home.

I received Hazelnut and Gingerbread Torani Flavored Syrups to review. As soon as the package arrived I brewed a pot of coffee and tried the syrups in my morning coffee (seperately of course). Of the two flavors, hazelnut was my favorite. It added a nice flavor, without being overly sweet or syrupy. I should add as you can see in the photo I add whole milk to my morning coffee. The second flavor, gingerbread was way too gingery for my tastes. It made the milk taste off, and the whole coffee was overly strong. It might have been better with a weaker strength of coffee or black, but with strong coffee and milk it just didn't work. Since I love gingerbread flavor in baking, I figured I would give the flavors another try in a different type of drink, so I purchased seltzer water and half and half to make Italian and French sodas.

The first drink that I prepared was a Ginger-Vanilla Italian Soda. Here's the recipe I followed:

This recipe turned out delicious. My two boys were very impressed with this drink and my husband thought it resembled one of his favorite soft drinks, Ale 8. Of all the recipes I tried, this was my favorite.

For the second drink I made Caramel-Hazelnut French Sodas. Here's the recipe:

My two-year-old loved this recipe. He has had this drink multiple times since the first time I made this drink and it was definitely his favorite. I thought it was a little overly sweet for an adult's taste, but it was very popular with my two sons.

The final drink that I made was a Ginger-Vanilla French Soda. Here's the recipe:

This soda has a very rich taste and is a great drink to have for a treat. My whole family enjoyed this soda and it would be great for entertaining.

Overall, I thought the syrups worked well for a variety of drinks and I will be using the Sugar-Free Vanilla and Sugar-Free Caramel in my coffee in the future. I thought the Torani Gingerbread, Hazelnut and Sugar-Free Vanilla worked well in Italian and French sodas and I will be using them in the future in this manner.

Here's a link to my review of the Torani Gingerbread Syrup on the SheSpeaks site. Torani flavored syrups are available in over 122 flavors, which include regular and sugar free varieties. Please go to www.Torani.com to see all flavors.

I would love to hear what Torani syrups everyone has tried and which ones are your favorites!

Disclaimer: In the spirit of full disclosure, I received products to review for this blog post. No payment was given and as always, all opinions given here are fully my own.

Welcome to Foodie in WV!

I grew up in Seattle and then had a quarter life crisis and moved 2500 miles away to the state of West Virginia. I started this blog in part to keep my sanity while raising two young sons in a state far away from home. I share my recipe triumphs (and failures) as I try new magazine, cookbook and on-line recipes. I hope that my readers will find great new recipes to try in their home kitchens!